Tubulin dipole moment, dielectric constant and quantum behavior: computer simulations, experimental results and suggestions

We used computer simulation to calculate the electric dipole moments of the (alpha)- and (beta)-tubulin monomers and dimer and found those to be |p(alpha)| = 552D, |p(beta)| = 1193D and |p(alpha beta)| = 1740D, respectively. Independent surface plasmon resonance (SPR) and refractometry measurements of the high-frequency dielectric constant and polarizability strongly corroborated our previous SPR-derived results, giving (delta)n/(delta)c ~1.800 * 10^(-3) ml/mg. The refractive index of tubulin was measured to be ntub ~2.90 and the high-frequency tubulin dielectric constant ktub ~8.41, while the high-frequency polarizability was found to be (alpha)tub ~2.1 * 10^(-33) C m^2/V. Methods for the experimental determination of the low-frequency p are explored, as well as ways to test the often conjectured quantum coherence and entanglement properties of tubulin. Biobits, bioqubits and other applications to bioelectronics are discussed.